WASHINGTON — In a concession to privacy advocates, the government on Thursday announced plans for a computerized profiling system for air travelers that would be less intrusive than previously envisioned.
"We will meet the goal of improving security," said Transportation Security Administration chief David M. Stone, promising a more thorough and accurate system. "We will be protecting privacy and civil liberties."
Stone said that people wrongly suspected would be able to clear their names.
The government said it would call the new system "Secure Flight" instead of continuing to refer to it by the acronym CAPPS II.
The current profiling program, known as CAPPS, or Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening, flagged 6 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers for additional searches at the airport. At the time, the only follow-up required was a closer inspection of their checked baggage, which revealed nothing.
But the system was criticized for snaring many innocent travelers as well, a weakness that led some to discount its warnings.
About 15% of the nearly 2 million domestic air travelers each day are now pulled aside for more intrusive searches. That would drop to about 5% with the new system, Stone said.
Privacy advocates said the announcement was a promising sign, but cautioned that many of the details had not been revealed. The government has spent about $100 million on the project.
"This is certainly a step in the right direction ... but this kind of thing bears close scrutiny before we can make an ultimate judgment," said Jay Stanley, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union.
"It still poses threats to our liberties, even if those threats are not as immediate as they would have been under the previous system."
The Bush administration was under pressure from the Sept. 11 commission.
The bipartisan panel, which investigated the terrorist attacks, had urged the government not to get bogged down in a protracted debate over privacy and to instead make immediate -- if less sweeping -- improvements.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office also had criticized CAPPS II, saying in February that "the system may not meet expected requirements, may experience delayed deployment and may incur increased costs."
The government announced in July that it was scrapping its plans for CAPPS II, following criticism that the program would unduly invade passengers' privacy.
